Day 40 Gee Brief: I HATE being a grown up...I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

July 30
Haugen-ish, MT to Coeur D'Arlene-ish, ID

Okay, so maybe you're thinking... "Uh, G, you really don't have anything to worry about because you HAVEN'T grown up yet!" That may be true, but today, I did a very grown up thing.

Rather than risk my life on a 4 mile (not 3) stretch of shoulderless road where trucks were banging mirrors at the center line and knocking over highway markers on the non-existent shoulders, I decided, with J's explicit approval, to SKIP that stretch. So, I now can only brag that I cycled MOST of the way from Maine to Oregon. To be honest, those four miles haunted me for much of the morning, until I realized that one of my other possible routes would have had me taking a ferry across two of the Great Lakes. That would have been justifiable, since the Great Lakes were an impassable part of the route by bicycle. I then connected the idea of those 4 miles ALSO being impassable. Thus, I did not technically "skip" them, I just took a "land" ferry over them. I'm good with that.

Another beautiful Montana morning.

Back to the morning: J drove me out to the spot where I crashed yesterday, I road about 8 miles and then she picked me up, and drove me past the dangerous area. She then dropped me off and I proceeded on my way. I rode Rootbeer while J took Jenard off to a shop in Coeur D'Arlene (try typing THAT name three times fast) hopefully to be fixed. Given my acquiescence to skipping the four miles rather than dying, I got a pretty generous and heart felt smile from her. (See above smiling pic).

However, before I left, I just had to get the official report from the NTSB on my crash yesterday. However, it seems that my particular incident was big enough for them, so, went to a smaller organization known as the "GTSB" - Gee Transportation and Safety Board. Here's the findings of the GTSB:

Dated: July 30th, 2014  - Official, GTSB report

On the matter of the case of Montana v Jenard, we find evidence of need for improvement on both parts. On the side of Jenard, we find the fact that Jenard is just a bicycle being driven by one said "G", to be in complete exoneration of any fault on the part of Jenard. As a matter of record, the mere fact that Jenard did not disintegrate on impact speaks highly of Jenard's construction and fiber (carbon fiber to be more exact). On the side of Montana, we feel that deep abyss-like grooves, compounded by full length speed bumps encouraged the driver of Jenard to attempt navigating Jenard BETWEEN the speed bumps and the groove, thus increasing the likelihood that Jenard would become stuck in the road. We feel that Montana should follow the lead of Wyoming in creating more cycle friendly roads. We also feel that Jenard's driver should be more careful when cycling around a groove in the road that could swallow a Mini-Cooper.

Deep abyss like groove, much bigger than Jenard's wheel

Full length speed bumps, leaving cyclist no where else to go but toward the groove as they try to navigate around the speed bump.

Rootbeer on deck, ready for action.

Early morning video: Why I bike.

Beautiful Montana/Idaho Road

Kind of what it looked like as I was falling

I freed my inner child by eating these AWESOME spaghettios.....

......on this bench.....

....a this cool local motel and general store.

Our third to last state!!!!

And our FINAL time zone change!

Just before Wallace, Idaho, which by the way looked like a really cool town, I found a bike path that traveled MOST of the way to Coeur D'Alene. It was beautiful and smooth and safe. As I already said, I think when people cycle for charity type causes, the majority of them are doing it because cycling itself is a fun thing. Well, imagine all the economic and social good we could do for society by connecting all of the US with cycling paths. People would be healthier, insurance rates would go down, the air would be cleaner....it just goes on and on. So if you're looking for something to donate to, donate to these folks.  Rails to Trails Conservancy.

 Here's a video of the bike path.

The ride to Coeur D'Alene fell into the "heaven and hell" category. The heaven was the gorgeous bike path.  The hell part was no fault of the road (as in Iowa), it was mine. I've streamlined my water down to just two bottles, and forgot to replenish in a town called Cataldo. After Cataldo there was a HUGE hill, during which I discovered I was almost out of water. I hoped beyond hope that the pay off for the huge hill would be a down hill ride into Coeur D'Alene. Nope. The sign at the top said, "%6 grade for 4 miles" and at the end of that 4 miles EXACTLY the hill was done, and I eventually found myself climbing two more hills. I called J and told her to pick me up at exit 17 rather than the predetermined exit 13. I will not make the same mistake on Day 41.

I ran across a few adventurous boys at a local swimming hole. 

Chris

After J picked me up, we went straight to the bike shop and got the news that Jenard does indeed have a crack in his frame, however, the placement of it suggests that the crack was NOT caused by my specific crash. Jenard is definitely rideable, and will make it to Portland, Oregon just fine. He has some new handlebar tape which I like a lot. The bike shop we used was called Bicycle Sales and Service. Chris was the lead guy on fixing up Jenard. We talked for a long time about possible trails into Spokane and different cycling stuff. He was very helpful and friendly. I definitely recommend this place if you're in the Coeur D'Alene area!

I've got lot's more videos to post, but they load so SLOW! So for now, here's a few pics from the day.

Scrap metal horse and cowboy

VFW post in Idaho

More beautiful road